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Month: May 2017

I read the conversation between an atheist and a renowned Christian who is also an intellectual and I realized how much knowledge we have attained as a church and how much such height of knowledge might be costing us.

In the conversation, the atheist asked some questions and the Christian intellectual gave responses that I cannot help but say fell short of the right answers. It appeared to me that the great Christian intellectual just wanted to ‘fix’ the error of this atheist so much so that he lost him in the process.

Lesson one: People don’t want to be fixed, they want to be heard. They might NEED fixing, but it’s next to impossible to meet a ‘need’ that is veiled with a ‘want’ without first meeting that ‘want’.

Correcting other people’s error is a very delicate matter and requires a great deal of maturity and experience to handle. It is just like handling uranium, you don’t leave it to everyday people to handle, not even to those who know how dangerous the substance can be. In such a delicate matter, it is best to leave it to those who are better trained, experienced and more importantly, better equipped to handle such hazardous materials.

Handling other people’s error is no different. You must know the ethics involved and the decorum required.

A young boy of 5 asked his father, ‘’Dad, why do we pay tax?’’ The father went on and on about how taxpayer’s money is used to fix roads, fund security and education and he listed so many other uses appealing to logic and reason. He explained why tax should be paid but the young boy was still not persuaded by his father’s reply. Then the father said, “Even Jesus said, ‘Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar'”.

Then the young child jumped at that answer, “Dad! That’s exactly my point. Caesar died over 2000 years ago, why do we still pay taxes to him?”

THE LESSON
From this story, we can clearly see that the effective teacher is not the one who simply ‘knows his onions’ or the one who can merely communicate his points fluently.
On the contrary, the effective teacher understands his audience (not just his onions) and makes a conscious effort to connect with them (not just to communicate).

The Christian’s journey from birth to maturity is a progression from servant-hood through friendship to son-ship. According to Galatians, a child is no different from a servant even though he is the heir of all things. That means that what we are by birth-right is not necessarily what we are by experience. Therefore if a believer must experience his inheritance in Christ, he must make the transition from a servant to becoming a friend and then ultimately a son. A believer does this by converting his birth-right into life experiences in Christ Jesus.

Unfortunately for many Christians, especially those of the ‘new creation’ and ‘positive confession’ movement, they presume that they are already sons. They presume maturity without process because they mistake our birth-right for our experience, but this is not entirely true. One is inherent while the other is relative. Our birth-right is Christ’s provisions of grace for us, but our experience is based on how much of these provisions we draw on by faith.

An heir that lives like a servant is just like a man with hundreds of billions in his account but refuses to make withdrawals from it, his living standard will not mirror his account balance. You can be the heir of the universe and still live like a pauper. You can decide to make minor adjustments to live like a millionaire, but you will still be living below the standards and possibilities destined for you by virtue of your bank account. That’s the difference between the provisions of grace and our experience by faith. As our faith experiences increases, our journey progresses from that of a servant to that of a son. In other words, we can tell whether we are servants, friends or sons based on the particular experience we have on this spiritual journey.

There are still those who think, based on the superfluous nature of their experiences, that they have become sons. Sadly, this is not true either. It is not the nature of an experience but the experience itself that serves as an indicator of where we are. To illustrate, you don’t progress from an employee to an entrepreneur simply because you had a exponential raise in your salary. Neither do people cease to be C.E.Os simply because they became bankrupt. So don’t let the spectacular nature of your Christian experience (or lack of it) delude you into presumption. Instead, look at the sign posts in your prophetic pilgrimage and let them be an indicator for where you are.

For those still in doubt about where they are on this journey, here is a poem God inspired me to write about servants, friends and sons. Meditate on it, it will help you pin point where you are on this journey of faith.

Of Servants, Friends and Sons

Servants are valuable, they come at a price,
Friends are rare gems, they are hard to come by,
Sons on the other hand, are priceless.

A man becomes a servant when he sacrifices his free will,
A servant becomes a friend when he begins to love,
A friend becomes a son when he accepts adoption.

Servants worship because it’s in their job description,
Friends do because they love to,
For sons, worship is second-nature to them.

A servant is committed to work of service,
A friend is committed to relationship,
And a son is committed to legacy.

A servant is driven by duty,
A friend by loyalty,
But a son by family name, heritage and posterity.

Servants are given responsibility,
Friends are given access,
Sons are given authority.

Servants are stationed in the Father’s field,
Friends in the Father’s house,
but sons at the right hand of the Father.

Servants know Him as the way,
Friends know Him as the truth,
Sons know Him as their life.

Servants are entrusted with instruction,
Friends with secrets,
But sons are entrusted with the whole estate.

Are you a servant of God, are you a friend of God, or are you a son? A true son does not leave the virtues and culture learnt while being a servant or a friend, he takes them along with him into son-ship. To be a son in whom the Father is well pleased we must do the same. For in the end, we are all called to wear these three hats, so that as believers, we continue in the service of our king, befriending our God, and crying out Abba Father.